Form I-9 Section 1: Status Box, EAD Dates, and Signing Deadline

To meet Form I-9 Section 1 employee requirements, you fill in your legal name, other last names used, address, and date of birth; check exactly one of four boxes describing how you’re authorized to work; supply any identifying number or expiration date that box requires; and sign under penalty of perjury no later than your first day of paid work. Section 1 is the part of the I-9 you complete yourself, and you are legally responsible for everything in it.

The Information Section 1 Collects

Section 1 ties you to federal records through a short set of biographical fields. You enter your full legal name (last, first, middle initial), any other last names you’ve used such as a maiden name, your date of birth, and a current address.¹

The address field expects a physical street address, but employees who use a P.O. Box may enter it. That P.O. Box restriction applies to preparers, translators, and employers, not to you.² If you don’t have a permanent street address, describe where you live (for example, “two miles south of I-81, near the water tower”) and put the village, county, or township in the city field.³

Email address and telephone number are optional. Leave them blank if you’d rather not share them.³

Your Social Security Number is also voluntary for most employees. It becomes mandatory only if your employer participates in E-Verify, which cross-checks I-9 data against government records.⁴ If you’re not sure whether your employer uses E-Verify, ask before you fill in that field.

Choosing the Right Status Box

The core of Section 1 is a single choice: which of four categories describes your authorization to work. You pick one under penalty of perjury, and each category requires different follow-up information.

U.S. citizen. Anyone born in the United States or naturalized. No additional numbers or dates required.
Noncitizen national. Primarily people born in American Samoa or certain other U.S. outlying possessions who owe permanent allegiance to the United States. No additional numbers or dates required.¹
Lawful permanent resident. Green card holders. Enter your 7- to 9-digit USCIS Number (also called an Alien Registration Number or A-Number), which appears on your Permanent Resident Card.¹
Noncitizen authorized to work. Work visas, asylum or refugee status, and other time-limited work authorization. Enter the expiration date of your work authorization, or “N/A” if your status doesn’t expire (as with refugees and asylees). You also need one identifying number: a USCIS Number, an 11-character Form I-94 Admission Number, or a foreign passport number with country of issuance.¹

The Form I-94 is the arrival and departure record issued by Customs and Border Protection. Numbers issued before May 2019 are purely numeric; newer ones use a nine-digit, one-letter, one-digit format. Both are 11 characters long.⁵

EAD Expiration Dates and the October 30, 2025 Change

If you’re in the “noncitizen authorized to work” category and hold an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), the expiration date you enter depends on when you filed your renewal application.

For timely renewal applications filed before October 30, 2025, your EAD may have been automatically extended for up to 540 days beyond the expiration printed on the card. Enter the extended date (540 days from the card’s expiration) as your work authorization expiration in Section 1.⁶

For renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025, the 540-day automatic extension no longer applies. Your current EAD’s validity is not automatically extended, and you’ll need valid, unexpired authorization to work.⁷ Automatic extensions separately provided by law or Federal Register notices, including those for Temporary Protected Status, still apply regardless of filing date.

Signing and the First-Day Deadline

You can complete Section 1 as soon as you accept a job offer, but the outer limit is your first day of paid work. That deadline is the actual day you start earning wages or other pay, and it’s firm.⁸ If your employer runs a structured onboarding day, that’s the simplest time to do it. Don’t perform any compensated work before Section 1 is signed.

Your signature, whether ink or a compliant electronic signature, is a sworn declaration that everything you entered is true and correct.¹ The date next to your signature should be the actual day you completed the form. Once you sign, your part is finished; the employer then moves to Section 2 to review your identity and work authorization documents.

Your completed I-9 stays with your employer and must be produced if inspected by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, or the Department of Justice. DHS may also share the information for law enforcement or national security purposes.¹

If Someone Helps You Fill It In

If a language barrier or disability keeps you from completing Section 1 on your own, someone else can help you write it or translate the instructions. You still have to sign the form yourself, even if that means placing a mark rather than writing your name.³ The legal responsibility for the information stays with you regardless of who writes it down.

Each person who assists must complete a separate certification block on Supplement A, providing full name, address, signature, and date.⁸ If two people help, both need their own certification block. Your employer keeps these pages with the I-9.

Employees under 18 who cannot present an identity document from the acceptable documents list follow a different process. A parent or legal guardian fills in the minor’s information in Section 1, writes “minor under age 18” in the signature field, and then completes the Preparer and/or Translator Certification on Supplement A.⁹

Fixing a Mistake After You Sign

A transposed digit, a misspelled name, the wrong status box: errors happen, and the fix has a specific method. Only you (or your original preparer or translator) can correct Section 1. Your employer cannot make changes to this part of the form.¹⁰

Draw a single line through the wrong information, write the correct entry nearby, then initial and date the change. Do not use correction fluid or erase anything. Covering up the original entry increases your employer’s legal liability and raises red flags during an audit. If correction fluid was already used, the employer should attach a signed, dated written explanation of what happened.¹⁰

What a False Attestation Costs

The perjury warning on the signature line is not decorative. Knowingly giving false information or using someone else’s documents to satisfy the I-9 requirement is a federal offense.

On the criminal side, making a false attestation on employment verification documents can bring up to five years in federal prison.¹¹ For broader immigration document fraud (forging documents, using another person’s identification, or helping someone file a fraudulent application), penalties reach up to 10 or 25 years depending on whether the fraud facilitated drug trafficking or terrorism.

On the immigration side, a finding of fraud or willful misrepresentation makes a person permanently inadmissible to the United States. That bar lasts for life unless the individual qualifies for and receives a specific waiver.¹² Even an unsuccessful attempt at fraud, where the deception was caught and the benefit denied, can trigger this finding. Noncitizens who receive a final order for document fraud under the Immigration and Nationality Act may face removal and a permanent bar on reentry.¹³

You Choose the Documents You Show

Section 1 is your part of the form, but one Section 2 rule matters enough to know before you sit down with your employer: you decide which acceptable documents to present, not the employer. Your employer cannot demand a green card, a passport, or any other specific document. They cannot request different documents from noncitizens than from citizens. As long as your documents come from the Lists of Acceptable Documents and reasonably appear genuine and related to you, the employer must accept them.¹⁴ An employer who insists on a particular document based on your citizenship or national origin may be violating federal anti-discrimination law.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Questions and Answers
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 3.0 Completing Section 1
4
E-Verify. E-Verify User Manual
5
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 5.1 Automatic Extensions Based on a Timely Filed Application
7
Federal Register. Removal of the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Section 1, Employee Information and Attestation
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Minors
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 9.0 Correcting Errors or Missing Information on Form I-9
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1546 – Fraud and Misuse of Visas, Permits, and Other Documents
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Overview of Fraud and Willful Misrepresentation
13
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Form I-9 Inspection Under Immigration and Nationality Act Section 274A
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 11.4 Avoiding Discrimination in Recruiting, Hiring, and the Form I-9 Process